Mock Interview for Gaps Students with Westminster Care @TCHC

A great working relationship has been set up between Westminster Care and TCHC. Staff at TCHC met Stuart Howell at the local jobs fair and got talking about the work we both do at our respective companies. We all thought it would be a great idea to do some joined-up work-ing as Stuart has a great understanding and knowledge of interviews and our learners at TCHC are at the beginning of there working journey and would benefit from his experience.

Mock interviews are an essential part of the GAPS study programme. Many of our learners have not experienced the interview process and for those that have this is still a valuable exercise as the constructive feedback gives our learners the tools, they need to develop their skills.

On Wednesday Stuart Howell from Westminster Care home visited TCHC Ipswich to conduct the interviews. Before this Stuart had visited the group to introduce himself and to do a presentation on Employability and Interviews. The group were told to research and prepare, as we wanted this exercise to be relatable to a real-life interview.

After the preparation and practice, the day arrived for the interviews to take place. Every learner took the exercise seriously and dressed to the best of their ability, which was great to see. Some were feeling a little anxious, but everyone plucked up the courage and went in for an interview. They all took it very seriously but the learners who stood out were Reece and Cameron because they had done their research and had prepared questions.

Stuart gave some great feedback to the learners and overall was very impressed by their attitude and effort. Little errors like not swinging on their chairs is a great lesson for our students to learn before they take on a real interview.

“The students were fantastic. They dressed appropriately and you could see their confidence grow during the interview”Stuart Howell (Westminster Care)

The two best learners won a box of chocolates and more importantly given the belief they need to succeed in a real-life interview.